Aftershock
Sharon Sala, Janis Reams Hudson and Debra Cowan
Silhouette Nocturne, Oct 2008, $5.25
ISBN: 9780373617968

'Penance' by Sharon Sala. Nicole Masters recovers from a shot to the head. Besides feeling lucky to be alive, she sees visions of a child kidnapped. Willing to do penance for surviving near death, she and Detective Dominic Tucci try to save the kid's life.

'After the Lightning' by Janis Reams Hudson. After surviving a direct hit from a lightning bolt, Hailey Cameron begins to hear a female voice in her head. Former police detective Aaron Trent easily accepts Hailey's new skill as normal having seen some weird stuff as a cop. They team up to break up a child-smuggling ring led by the voice, a comatose mother fearing for her kidnapped child.

'Seeing Red' by Debra Cowan. Having clinically died in the fire, firefighter Cass Holister is thankful to be alive. However, her return to the living includes the unique gift of seeing a fire before the blaze occurs. She joins with fire investigator Ben Wyrick to end the arsons although he is the man she loved and left, and she knows the arsonist too personally.

These three paranormal romantic suspense novellas are tense, exciting and filled with lead characters who make the respective near death experiences and the related Aftershock 'gifts' seem real; an enjoyable anthology.

Harriet Klausner